Winter 23/24

[bee-ess]

Anyone booked or moved a cruise to Winter 23/24. We registered to move our Jan 21 Caribbean cruise to 2023/4 season on Arvia and got our Cabin Allocation this morning and got a good cabin on the deck I would have chosen so didn't need to phone to change it, which was lucky as the phones weren't taking any calls for a while this morning. 

Edited November 22, 2021 by bee-ess

[pete14]

We pre-registered two. No problems with one of them. The other had an error over cabin grade, probably my fault. Phoned, got through immediately and all sorted out. 

[Son of Anarchy]

Moved our 2023 Arcadia cruise to 2024.  Managed to get the ED grade cabin we originally wanted for 2023 so quite pleased.  

[gsmt47471015]

Rebooked our cancelled 2022 Aurora world cruise for Acadia 2024 ,obviously cabin configurations are different , but at 0834 this morning we got confirmation from our TA that we obtained our first choice balcony cabin, very pleased although it took a lot of thought  before deciding to book as the itinerary was not the same as the cancelled cruise and misses out some ports we wished to visit, have decided to book separate cruises for the missed countries when Princess and Celebrity announce there 2024 itineraries as P and O go nowhere near them, only other disappointment is that Auckland is no longer an overnight stay 

[Valfan]

2 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Rebooked our cancelled 2022 Aurora world cruise for Arcadia 2024 ,obviously cabin configurations are different , but at 0834 this morning we got confirmation from our TA that we obtained our first choice balcony cabin,

I've booked for this one as well. I thought I was doing well receiving my TA confirmation text at 0839 this morning, but I'm well beaten by your time of 0834 !

[gsmt47471015]

0839 is still pretty quick, I never underestimate the speed that our travel agent works but even I was amazed to receive the call at that time ,they had done the deal from home before getting to the shop so that we got our requested cabin , I cannot praise them enough for all they do for us.

Hope you enjoy the experience when it comes around, we've done a leg of a world cruise before but all the people that were onboard when we got on made us so welcome,  because they had been on a long time they all knew each other and were like a very large family , a pleasure we hope to encounter when its our turn😊

[majortom10]

Would recommend that anyone if thinking of booking online for 2023/24 to ring P&O direct or a TA as recently booked a cruise on Arvia for Summer 2023 and the only staterooms showing available for the balcony grade we wanted were not the best position. When I rang and asked TA for availability she said loads and named many midship staterooms that were available that were not showing on P&Os website.

[yorkshirephil]

We have had confirmation of our October 2023 cruise on Aurora this morning, 

[lancashire_cruisers]

We had confirmation of our October 23 Canaries cruise yesterday and first choice cabin too!

[bobstheboy]

Got my Oct Arvia cruise from Southampton to Antigua booked with TA. As usual she got me everything I wanted with a nice discount and OBC.

[Britboys]

Nice to see that you have all got what you wanted. Enjoy - when the time comes!

[Selbourne]

We’ve booked a 14 night Canaries cruise on Ventura for Oct 23 in addition to a 7 night Fjords cruise on Iona for Summer 2023. We’ve managed to get our first choice accessible deluxe balcony cabins for both cruises, plus the two adjacent deluxe balcony cabins for our daughters and their partners. 
 

Now that we are back to booking cruises again I quite fancy booking one for next year, but the ongoing policies and on board restrictions continue to put us off unfortunately, so we have a handful of nice U.K. breaks booked for 2022. If the policies get relaxed then we will book a cruise, price permitting, although we fancy trying another cruise line. 

[tring]

We had no intention of booking a cruise for this season,  but I was looking at them early this morning and by 10.15am we  had rang our agent and booked the 35 night Caribbean on Ventura Jan '24.  A bit wary of that size ship for so many sea days, but we thought a midship deck C balcony was well priced so went for it, so will be happy enough on the balcony if the outside decks are very busy.  At least we would not expect to see children on a winter 35 nighter.

 

We have already booked the September '23 Aurora to the US and Canada (we had that cruise cancelled for the Sept just gone), but sadly we are not confident Aurora will still be in the P&O fleet by autumn 2023, so will still leave us with one holiday booked for that year.

[Mysticalmother]

Yes, we have booked for Oct 23. Couldn't get our choice of cabin, or anywhere near it, but haver accepted what is on offer. It seems this particular cruise was VERY popular with higher tier passengers, and the range of cabins left to us lowly folk was very limited on day 2!

[bee-ess]

1 hour ago, Mysticalmother said:

Yes, we have booked for Oct 23. Couldn't get our choice of cabin, or anywhere near it, but haver accepted what is on offer. It seems this particular cruise was VERY popular with higher tier passengers, and the range of cabins left to us lowly folk was very limited on day 2!

Which cruise is that ?

[Son of Anarchy]

Got an aft balcony for our Arcadia 24 cruise on Monday.  Only 3 left of those still available today.  We had originally booked for 2021, history then took over.  Re-booked for 23 at launch, got the last aft balcony, and it wasn't even 09:00 on early booking day for Caribbean tier.  Decided to move that booking, and luckily we got the cabin we previously wanted for 23. 

 

Deep breath, relax. 

[daiB]

2 hours ago, tring said:

We had no intention of booking a cruise for this season,  but I was looking at them early this morning and by 10.15am we  had rang our agent and booked the 35 night Caribbean on Ventura Jan '24.  A bit wary of that size ship for so many sea days, but we thought a midship deck C balcony was well priced so went for it, so will be happy enough on the balcony if the outside decks are very busy.  At least we would not expect to see children on a winter 35 nighter.

 

We have already booked the September '23 Aurora to the US and Canada (we had that cruise cancelled for the Sept just gone), but sadly we are not confident Aurora will still be in the P&O fleet by autumn 2023, so will still leave us with one holiday booked for that year.

Snap, wehave booked the 35 night Jan sailing as well. This will be our 4th long Ventura cruise.

[Peanut006]

Booked March 2024 Tenerife to Malta, accessible balcony DD grade. Only two accessible cabins in this grade on starboard side to get the sunshine(hopefully!!)so booked really early

Michelle

[tring]

57 minutes ago, daiB said:

Snap, wehave booked the 35 night Jan sailing as well. This will be our 4th long Ventura cruise.

 

Must be good runs then if you are going back for a forth one.  Do you find the sun decks get very busy on good days or would it be reasonably easy to find a sun bed somewhere without having to get up very early?  We are hoping that the likely lack of children will make sun beds slightly less in demand, though I am getting a bit old and stiff to get onto and off a sun bed if the adjacent bed is very near to it 🙂

 

Hope to meet up with you on the ship.  I have not checked the roll section yet, but will do so in a couple of days, or start one myself if need be,

 

Barbara

[yorkshirephil]

12 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Must be good runs then if you are going back for a forth one.  Do you find the sun decks get very busy on good days or would it be reasonably easy to find a sun bed somewhere without having to get up very early?  We are hoping that the likely lack of children will make sun beds slightly less in demand, though I am getting a bit old and stiff to get onto and off a sun bed if the adjacent bed is very near to it 🙂

 

Hope to meet up with you on the ship.  I have not checked the roll section yet, but will do so in a couple of days, or start one myself if need be,

 

Barbara

We have taken the 35 night USA/Caribbean cruises four times, twice on Ventura and twice on Oceana. We never had any problems finding a sun bed, however we are happy to sit on one of the higher decks out of the way. The beds nearer the pools filled up early, not always with people either. The beds on the higher decks were usually spread out more as opposed to the beds near the pools which were closer together. You need to get up early usually to get a chair/steamer on the sunny side prom deck as the older less agile people tended to go for those. WE love these cruises, great way to spend 5 winter weeks, especially if you get lucky with the weather on days 2/3 crossing the Atlantic.

[tring]

13 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

We have taken the 35 night USA/Caribbean cruises four times, twice on Ventura and twice on Oceana. We never had any problems finding a sun bed, however we are happy to sit on one of the higher decks out of the way. The beds nearer the pools filled up early, not always with people either. The beds on the higher decks were usually spread out more as opposed to the beds near the pools which were closer together. You need to get up early usually to get a chair/steamer on the sunny side prom deck as the older less agile people tended to go for those. WE love these cruises, great way to spend 5 winter weeks, especially if you get lucky with the weather on days 2/3 crossing the Atlantic.

 

Thanks for the reply, that has cheered us up a lot.  We normally go for the top decks anyway as usually much quieter and as you say better spaced out beds on all cruise ships.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruises,

 

 Barbara

Edited November 24, 2021 by tring

[gsmt47471015]

We nearly always go " up the decks" as beds around the pool are at a premium no matter what ship  (even worse when kids are onboard), not that were against them. Not really any different to a resort hotel as parents like to keep an eye on their offspring, and we were no different when they were young. It can be a bit windy higher up and in some circumstances the upper decks can be closed which is when the problems really begin, especially if the "towel brigade" have commandeered numerous beds!!! We are also on Ventura in February for the 35nighter, don't normally do the same cruise twice but after the worldie was cancelled  this was the next ,best choice, and thoroughly enjoyed it the first time around😊 

[cruisefan2012]

Pre-Registered on an 2024 Canaries cruise on the website, phoned up today and managed to get a good cabin on a high deck - happy days

[Mysticalmother]

6 hours ago, bee-ess said:

Which cruise is that ?

R319 on Aurora…to the Med & Greece. October 

[bee-ess]

6 minutes ago, Mysticalmother said:

R319 on Aurora…to the Med & Greece. October 

Nice Itinerary, we did a similar one on Oriana a few years back. I would have liked that one but My wife cannot get 3 weeks away from work anymore - so it is Caribbean again for us (not that I'm complaining). I see what you mean about Cabin shortage, it already shows Deluxe Balconies sold out.